Ai Haibara (灰原 哀 ,Haibara Ai), real name Shiho Miyano (宮野 志保 ,Miyano Shiho), is the inventor of the APTX 4869 poison that shrunk Shinichi Kudo into Conan Edogawa, and a victim of the poison herself, after she had been prisoned by Gin and Vodka. Formerly Sherry (シェリー ) of the Black Organization, she is on the run from them and lives with Professor Agasa. She is also one of few characters who knows Shinichi is Conan.

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Shiho Miyano and her older sister, Akemi Miyano , were born into the secret crime syndicate "The Black Organization ". Her English mother, Elena Miyano , and her Japanese father, Atsushi Miyano, were both scientists working for the Black Organization on an important secret project. While Haibara was young, both her parents died in what was claimed to be an accident. While Akemi lived a normal life, the highly intelligent Haibara was groomed to take over her parents' research. A child prodigy, she was sent to the United States for education at a very young age, and then later came back to Japan to finish her parents' secret project, "Silver Bullet". By the age of thirteen she was working as a scientist for the Black Organization. She was given the codename "Sherry", after the alcoholic drink.

Shiho was about 18 years old when she developed the experimental test compound APTX 4869 . She discovered that it could be used as a poison to kill without leaving any traces of itself in a body. While researching its effects, Shiho noticed that one of her lab mice had become younger after being given the drug instead of dying, though she did not report that effect. Meanwhile, the Black Organization started human trials, using APTX 4869 to commit untraceable murders. Unaware of the drug's rare side effect when they used it on Shinichi Kudo , the Black Organization ordered a search for him because his body had not been found to confirm his dead. Shiho and her team searched Shinichi's house twice after he had been shrunk to confirm his death for the Black Organization. She began to suspect Shinichi's transformation after the second search, when she found that his clothes from primary school had gone missing. Shiho then confirmed him as deceased so the organization would not look into the matter further and kill him after all.
Shiho was unhappy that the Black Organization's was using the incomplete APTX 4869 for murder, as that was not the drug's intended purpose. When Shiho received word that her sister Akemi had been killed, but was given no explanation why, she decided to boycott her research until the Black Organization gave her an adequate explanation. Instead, the Organization confined her in a small room to await her execution. With no other way out, she took a pill of APTX 4869 to commit suicide, but instead shrank into a six or seven year old girl. In her new, smaller body, she escaped from the Black Organization and attempted to reach Shinichi's house, hoping he might be able to help her. Exhausted, she collapsed in front of Shinichi's house, where she was found by Professor Agasa , who eventually adopted her. In fact, as it turned out later, Agasa was acquaintances with her parents—especially her father—even though he didn't know at that time that they had children or were part of the Black Organization.

To prevent the knowledge of her transfiguration from being discovered, Shiho and Professor Agasa create her alias Ai Haibara (known as Anita Hailey—recently Vi Graythorn—in the English dub). As Ai Haibara, she attends Teitan Elementary School with Shinichi Kudo's shrunken form, Conan Edogawa . Following her first adventure with the Detective Boys in which they investigate the disappearance of a schoolmate's brother, she reveals her true identity to Conan and the fact that she had developed the APTX 4869. At first stunned, then outraged, Conan protests her presence, but as time passes, he accepts Haibara as a friend and fellow victim, though her cynicism and secretive air still rail him at times. Haibara also joins the ranks of the Detective Boys, and although she does not think too highly of her teammates' immature antics, she has come to value them all as close friends.

Haibara has begun working on an antidote for the APTX 4869, but since most of the important data had been stored on computer files, which are now mostly destroyed, the work progresses slowly. Conan also eventually succeeds in persuading Vermouth , who was attempting to track down Shiho and had found out about her new identity, to leave Haibara in peace, easing the air of menace which had loomed over Haibara until that time.

Vermouth breaks her promise when the Black Organization member Bourbon, who had been assigned to look for Sherry, discovers a video of Shiho taken while Haibara was using a temporary antidote to rescue the detective boys. When the Black Organization attempts to kill or capture her aboard a train, a counterplan devised by Conan, Subaru Okiya , Yukiko Kudo , and Kaitou Kid results in an explosion that preserves Shiho's secret identity and makes all the Black Organization members besides Vermouth believe she is dead.

Shiho has a sang-froid, mistrustful, sarcastic, cold attitude, and often reminds others about the darker side of reality and human nature. As Ai Haibara, she speaks and acts older than she is supposed to be, which results in the Detective Boys referring to her as "cool". Despite her jaded demeanor, she can be kind and caring, though usually more to animals than people. Haibara tends to be quiet, though this may be due to her caution to keep herself hidden from the Black Organization. She considers Conan and the Detective Boys the first real friends she has ever had, and is even willing to sacrifice herself just to ensure their safety.

Shiho is generally a loner and misses her older sister, Akemi, greatly (in the film Countdown to Heaven, she would call her sister's old apartment just to hear her voice on the voicemail). Her greatest fear is being caught by the Black Organization, and she is especially terrified of Gin and Vermouth. She tries to keep Conan from doing reckless things that may give away their identity, though often she is surprised by his actions which usually result in gaining the information he needs while also keeping their identities secret. However, whenever Conan is reckless in regards to keeping his identity from Ran, Haibara is the one who plans ahead in order to keep him from being revealed.

While she generally accompanies her fellow Detective Boys to soccer matches played by the Tokyo Spirits, Haibara herself is a fan of Big Osaka in general and of the player Ryusuke Higo in particular, especially since the latter has likewise abandoned a "black organization" (Noir Tokyo) after the team had betrayed him and had remained an outcast in public opinion for a time. Because she occasionally works overnight on the antidote for the APTX 4869, she tends to be tired quite frequently, causing Conan to call her an "evil-eyed yawny girl" on one occasion.

In the OVA A Secret Order From London, Haibara reveals to Ayumi that she likes sandwiches with a mixture of peanut butter and blueberry jam, from her schooldays in America. However, since Professor Agasa caught her eating one of these sandwiches—especially since Haibara was on her part constantly pestering him into eating low-calorie foods only—she had to abandon that habit for a while.

Haibara seems to have some interest in fashion, as she has made repeated requests for a certain type of purse when asked to do something. For instance, in one of the cases, in order to expose the identity of the person who hid the phone cables to cut off communications with the outside world, she was asked by Conan to fake an unbearable appendix pain, which she agreed to after jokingly requesting for a Fusae Brand's wallet for her cooperation. She then started rolling on the floor and screaming for help. The culprit felt like he had no choice but to reveal the cable from his pockets and reconnect the phone to ask for an ambulance. She is also seen with a Prada cell phone case in the Mystery Train case. Haibara reads 'ComCom' magazine (a name similar to Japan's 'CanCam' fashion magazine) during a soccer game in the Indiscriminate Stadium Threatening Case. In OVA 11, the Detective Boys wrongly began to suspect Haibara was a child model from America, due to her looks and knowledge of fashion and makeup.

Conan's class receives a new student named Ai Haibara. She acts rather cold and reserved when the Detective Boys try to befriend her, and Genta notices she's looking at Conan suspiciously. She tells them where she lives but Conan fails to realize it's at Agasa's home (Tokyo blocks are not numbered in sequential order and Conan has

never had reason to learn Agasa's mailing address due to their being neighbors).

After school, a boy named Toshiya asks the Detective Boys to find his missing brother. The Detective Boys along with Haibara investigate Toshiya's house and finds a painting of Natsume Sōseki. Toshiya reveals that before his brother disappeared, a woman, who had an interest in that portrait, approached Toshiya's brother. The Detective Boys search around town to ask whether anyone has seen the woman or Toshiya's brother. Conan notices that a man was using a counterfeit ¥1000 and realizes Toshiya's brother was actually kidnapped and forced to help create counterfeit bills. After following the man along with the clues Toshiya's brother left behind, they are able to apprehend the organized crime group and save Toshiya's brother.

On the way home, Haibara reveals to Conan that she is a former member of the Black Organization, with the code name "Sherry". She actually betrayed the group and escaped with the use of the APTX 4869, which caused her to become a child. She reveals that she once accidentally sent a floppy disk containing data on the Black Organization to her older sister, and the disc is now in the possession of her sister's professor, Masami Hirota.
Agasa takes Conan and Haibara there to retrieve the disk, only to discover that Hirota has been murdered. The suspects are Hirota's three students who visited that day. Conan reveals the culprit to be a man named Akira Shirakura; Shirakura after bludgeoning Hirota to death and tied the answering machine cassette tape around the key to the room which rewound when a call was made, subsequently dragging the key into the room. As evidence, Conan reveals that Shirakura's fingerprints should be found on the tape. After seeing Conan's amazing display of logic after she had given up on the case herself, Haibara breaks down and asks Conan why he could not save her sister, Akemi, from the Black Organization. Conan finally makes the connection that the "Masami Hirota" who Gin killed was actually Shiho's sister, and sympathy for Haibara's attitude stirs in him. The disc is taken into police custody, but once it is released to them Haibara attempts to read the files off the disk—only to have a virus delete all the data.

In Episode 176-178, Conan encounters Gin and Vodka again. Haibara is kidnapped and confined to a wine cellar by the Black Orgnization member Pisco, but she escapes before Gin and Vodka arrive by drinking baijiu to turn back into an adult. Gin anticipates her actions and intercepts her on the roof. Gin shoots her repeatedly, hoping he can force her to explain how she escaped from the Organization. Conan prevents Gin from killing her by shooting the man with his tranquilizer wristwatch. Conan tells Haibara to jump into the chimmey, and Vodka shoots at him, but Conan gets away. Gin purposely shoots himself in the arm to stay awake. Inside, Pisco almost kills Haibara, but Conan rescues her after tricking Pisco into accidentally causing a fire. Gin kills Pisco for failure before Pisco's able to tell him the truth that Shiho Miyano has deaged into a young girl. Worried that the Organization is after her, Haibara decides to leave the city. Conan anticipates that Gin will predict her next move as leaving Tokyo, so it will be better if she does the unexpected and remains in Beika. Unknown to Conan or Haibara, Vermouth saw Haibara at the party and uses her expert disguise skills to get closer to Haibara and Conan in order to confirm Haibara's identity as Sherry and then kill her.

Conan finds out that Ran suspects him of being Shinichi, because Ran said she knew Conan's blood type for a blood transfusion. While Conan is in the hospital contemplating admitting his identity to her, Haibara enters and points a gun at his head, saying that the Black Organization has found out about her due to an unknown agent being present at the Pisco incident. Because of this, Professor Agasa is held hostage and, in exchange for his life and a chance to return to the Black Organization, Haibara is required to terminate all the links she had in her child identity. However, when she pulls the trigger a bunch of flowers come out, showing that the story was just an act. Still, she uses this story as her point: both Haibara and Conan cannot reveal their identities no matter the situation, in order to prevent such a tragedy from occurring.

During that night, Haibara explains her plan to disassociate Conan from Shinichi in Ran's eyes. She has Conan take a prototype antidote for APTX 4869 and then disguises herself as Conan. For the rest of the arc, Conan returns as Shinichi while Haibara is present as Conan, thus creating the illusion of Shinichi and Conan existing at the same time, disproving that the two are the same person.

At the end of the Desperate Revival arc, the antidote begins to run out and Shinichi runs into the bathroom, where Haibara knocks him out using the sleeping needle. She then switches Shinichi into Conan's clothes after the antidote runs out.

Vermouth, disguised as Tomoaki Araide , boards a bus that Haibara, Agasa, and the Detective Boys are riding to a ski resort. Whatever plan Vermouth might have had is completely interrupted by the bus being hijacked by random criminals and the presence of two FBI agents that have been tracking her: Jodie Starling and Shuichi Akai. Haibara detects Vermouth's presence on the bus. She becomes so afraid that the Detective Boys, Conan, and Agasa will be killed that she decides suicide is the best option to escape. Only Conan's quick thinking saves her, and he asks her to not run away.

Vermouth finally launches her plan to kill Shiho. She prepares a distraction to lure Conan away so that Haibara

is alone at Agasa's. Taking advantage of the fact that Haibara has practically become ill from fear, she calls as Dr. Araide to tell Haibara she is taking her to the hospital because she has been unwell for so long. The eavesdropping FBI agent Jodie Starling arrives first to protect Haibara and starts driving her towards the shipping yard where the FBI have laid a trap for Vermouth.

In a complicated turn of events, Vermouth reveals she already thwarted Jodie's trap, and then shoots her. Haibara then reveals herself to be Conan; Yukiko had helped with his disguise while Conan sent Heiji Hattori to participate in Vermouth's distraction. The real Haibara then shows up which distracts Conan long enough for Vermouth to dart him with his own stun-gun watch. Just as Haibara is about to be killed, Ran, who had suspected Jodie of being untrustworthy and decided to spy on her, jumps from Jodie's car trunk and protects Haibara. Vermouth is unwilling to kill either Conan or Ran because they had saved her life in the past. Part of the reason why she originally did not tell the rest of the Black Organization about Haibara's true identity is likely because they would find out about Conan too and then silence him and everyone around him as well.

Before Vermouth can come up with another plan, the other FBI agent, Shuichi Akai arrives and forces Vermouth to flee with Conan as a hostage. Vermouth dials the boss of the Black Organization to lie to him about why she was injured. Conan overhears the number and threatens to give it to the police for analysis unless Vermouth promises that she will give up on trying to kill Haibara. Vermouth consents and escapes.

In Episode 394, Conan figures out the boss's full number, but Haibara warns him not to call it because it is "Pandora's Box". Conan then thinks he can get Detective Takagi to figure out who the number belongs to, but then Haibara warns that if he does, Detective Takagi will be killed.

Not long after Akai's death, Conan hears fresh intel from the FBI that a new Black Organization agent called Bourbon is looking for Shiho, which Conan keeps secret from Haibara. As Conan and Haibara investigate a normal case, Haibara feels that an organization member is around. The organization member which she felt is implied to be one of the innocent suspects, Subaru Okiya. Conan invites Okiya to live in Kudo's house since Okiya's apartment was burnt to the ground. Okiya appears in other cases later on, including at the Haido mall where the rest of the Black Organization gathered to chase a rumored sighting of a scarred Shuichi Akai . Although Okiya is trusted by Conan and Agasa and kind to Haibara, she remains frightened of him. Later, some of his actions lead her to believe he might be someone she knows and she comes to trust him more, even attempting to uncover his identity when she thought he was asleep.

Meanwhile American high school detective Masumi Sera and detective Tooru Amuro also begin hanging around. Sera is unusually interested in Haibara and Conan; although more aggressive in scrutinizing Conan, Sera also secretly collected pictures of Haibara (which Sera later deleted) and kept trying to meet with her after they kept coincidentally missing on another. Because of this, Haibara becomes suspicious of Sera although Sera does not give her the sort of fear the Black Organization inspires. Haibara never directly meets Amuro; the closest she gets is when he drives by her while she rides in Okiya's car during a car chase.

Later, when Haibara is forced to revert to Shiho using a temporary antidote, a video of her as an adult is sent to the

Mouri Detective Agency by Mitsuhiko which Sera, Okiya, and Amuro find out about. Because of this, Haibara is later targeted by a plot concocted by Vermouth and Bourbon aboard the Bell Tree Express Train. Bourbon is revealed to be Amuro and Haibara learns that he knew her parents. Bourbon was hoping to capture Shiho alive, but Vermouth's modifications to his plan which were designed to kill her led to Shiho supposedly being blown up on the train. The Shiho Vermouth and Bourbon thought was killed was really Kaitou Kid in disguise, Conan having forced him into the plan. Because of this, all of the Black Organization besides Vermouth think Shiho is now dead, and Vermouth is unable to reveal the truth to the rest of them without also compromising Conan, Haibara and their deaged condition against her wishes.

Later, when Haibara is forced to revert to Shiho using a temporary antidote, a video of her as an

adult is sent to the Mouri Detective Agency by Mitsuhiko which Sera, Okiya, and Amuro find out about. Because of this, Haibara is later targeted by a plot concocted by Vermouth and Bourbon aboard the Bell Tree Express Train. Bourbon is revealed to be Amuro and Haibara learns that he knew her parents. Bourbon was hoping to capture Shiho alive, but Vermouth's modifications to his plan which were designed to kill her led to Shiho supposedly being blown up on the train. The Shiho Vermouth and Bourbon thought was killed was really Kaitou Kid in disguise, Conan having forced him into the plan. Because of this, all of the Black Organization besides Vermouth think Shiho is now dead, and Vermouth is unable to reveal the truth to the rest of them without also compromising Conan, Haibara and their deaged condition against her wishes.

Both are de-aged by APTX and have almost equal levels of intelligence, which makes Haibara and Conan close confidants and more sympathetic to one other than most other characters. Conan is one of the few people in front of whom she has shown any signs of weakness, such as breaking down over her sister's death. Ai Haibara has romantic feelings for Conan/Shinichi, although she never truly admits to it (due to her assumption of conan loving ran). Haibara expresses a lot of interest in Conan's personality, intelligence, and sense of justice. If Conan is in danger she is willing to throw away her life to save him, overriding fears and concerns for her own safety that would ordinarily paralyze her. Similarly, Conan has saved Haibara's life more than once when she would have sacrificed herself for his and the Detective Boys' safety. Haibara also often enjoys teasing Conan which Conan takes in good stride. Conan is oblivious of Haibara's feelings and sometimes finds it difficult to deal with her sarcasm and impudent, cold nature. Although close on many matters, they still don't fully trust one another with information about the Black Organization out of concern for the safety and feelings of the other.

The relationship between Haibara and Professor Agasa is rather unusual, if not humorous. Despite their actual

ages, Haibara often acts more like a mother to the professor, constantly reminding him to watch what he eats. On several occassions, she has removed fattening foods from his reach, and is attempting to help get him into better shape. There have also been instances where she'll automatically step in front of Agasa in cases of danger.

Out of all the people she's met, Haibara seems most comfortable about acting herself with Professor Agasa; which might be attributed to the fact that he was the one who found her after she escaped the Black Organization, and took her in.

There are instances where Haibara will caution Conan from actions that involve Ran, though it's assumed this is due merely to the fact that she wants to keep her identity hidden. Early on, she is cold and distant towards Ran, even more so than she is to most other people. Ran believes that it is because Haibara hated her, though in truth it is because Ran reminds Haibara strongly of her dead sister.

After Ran notices Haibara is not feeling well and carries her to safety during a case, Haibara finally properly introduces herself to Ran, and they slowly became friends. Because Haibara finds that Ran resembles her older sister, Akemi Miyano, she takes special interest in protecting her. These feelings increase after Ran jumps through a slew of bullets from a Black Organization sniper to save Haibara. Haibara immediately thinks of her own sister, and begins acting to try to protect Ran from the organization, such as when Haibara begs for Ran to stay at Agasa's house when she knows that Korn, Chianti, and the rest of the Black Organization are lurking about, immediately thinking of her own sister's death, and wanting to keep Ran safe.

Haibara has tried to keep an emotional distance away from the rest of the Detective Boys at the beginning. However, over time, she can't resist their friendliness anymore and gradually warms up to them.

Out of the Detective Boys, Haibara is the closest with Ayumi. At one time, Ayumi noticed that she called everyone by their first names except for Haibara and decided to try and call her "Ai-chan", but without success. At the end of a case which involved a shattered friendship, Haibara told Ayumi that it was okay for her to call her "Ai-chan". When Mitsuhiko and Genta tried to call her that, however, she told them that only Ayumi was allowed to call her by her first name. On the whole, Haibara seems to see Ayumi as a little sister, even going so far as to physically shield her from danger.

develops romantic feelings for her, and Haibara is fully aware of this. Haibara uses Mitsuhiko's feelings to her advantage when she needs him to do something, but she also does admire his intelligence and courage during missions the Detective Boys must perform and respects his feelings. In some episodes she even shows more confidence in Mitsuhiko than in Ayumi or Genta when the going gets tough.

The first time Subaru appears, Haibara feels a strange feeling toward him and thought he is a member of the Black Organization. However, the feeling keeps come and gone. In later episodes, Haibara seems do not hate him so much anymore. She even tries to uncover Subaru's scarf to know check something behind his neck.

Vermouth and Shiho have some connection, although it has not been elaborated on. Shiho fears Vermouth more than other Black Organization members except perhaps Gin. Shiho was initially Vermouth's target, but Vermouth promised to give up on her after Conan's intervention. She broke this promise later when Bourbon discovered a video of Sherry, still clinging to her personal conviction that Shiho is the one person who can't be allowed to exist in the world.

These people know Haibara's true identity: Professor Agasa, Conan, Vermouth, Pisco, Heiji Hattori, Yukiko Kudo, Yusaku Kudo, and Shuichi Akai. It is also possible that James Black and Jodie Starling of the FBI know Haibara's true identity since they call Haibara by her codename "Sherry", although they may not know yet her true name.

According to Agasa, Ai Haibara's name comes from Cordelia Gray (the character 灰 in her name means "ash") and V.I. Warshawski (V.I. upside down = "Ai"). Although Agasa suggested she use the kanji 愛 (love) for "Ai", she preferred to use the kanji 哀 (sorrow). Her US FUNimation name, "Vi Graythorn", has similar roots.